Colombia’s ambassador meets with Venezuelan president on reestablishing ties

BOGOTA, Colombia
Colombia’s ambassador to Venezuela, Armando Benedetti, met Monday with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Maduro welcomed Benedetti at the Palacio de Miraflores, the presidential residence in Caracas, to discuss the need to reestablish diplomatic and commercial ties between their two nations after years of deteriorating relations. The two held a friendly meeting in which they exchanged traditional gifts from each country. The reunion was made public by Benedetti, who presented his credentials as ambassador of his country in Caracas. "We spoke with President Nicolas Maduro about the urgency of reestablishing the ties of friendship that should never have been broken," he said on Twitter. Relations between the two countries were severed in 2019 when former Colombian President Ivan Duque supported Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido and his efforts to oust Maduro three years ago. Embassies and consulates in both countries were closed, as well as the border between the two countries. Leftist leader Gustavo Petro was sworn in earlier this month as the new president of Colombia with the pledge of rebuilding diplomatic relations with Venezuela. “I welcomed Armando Benedetti, Ambassador-designate of Colombia to Venezuela. We are peoples with a glorious history of rebellion and freedom, united in deep Bolivarian brotherhood. May our union be unbreakable,” Maduro said on his Twitter account. The president´s emissary, Felix Plasencia, is scheduled to meet Petro in the coming days. ​​​​​​​ Reestablishing trade relations is one of the main objectives of Benedetti, who said that more than 8 million Colombians live from binational trade with Venezuela. Anadolu Agency website contains only a portion of the news stories offered to subscribers in the AA News Broadcasting System (HAS), and in summarized form. Please contact us for subscription options.

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Venezuela, Colombia reestablish diplomatic relations after three years

Fast News

"Relations with Venezuela should never have been severed. We are brothers and an imaginary line cannot separate us," said new Colombian Ambassador Armando Benedetti after arriving in Caracas.

Colombia's new ambassador to Venezuela, Armando Benedetti, arrives in Caracas as the two sides resume diplomatic ties on August 28, 2022. (Twitter/@infopresidencia / Twitter)

Venezuela and Colombia have restored full diplomatic relations after a three-year break as a new leftist government in Bogota takes shape. A new Colombian ambassador, Armando Benedetti, arrived in Caracas and said on Sunday on Twitter, "Relations with Venezuela should never have been severed. We are brothers and an imaginary line cannot separate us." He was welcomed by Venezuelan Deputy Foreign Minister Rander Pena Ramirez. Colombia's new leftist President, Gustavo Petro, and Venezuela's socialist President Nicolas Maduro announced on August 11 that they planned to restore diplomatic relations that were severed in 2019. That rupture was the culmination of years of tension between leftist Venezuela and Colombia under successive conservative presidents starting with Alvaro Uribe. Petro is Colombia's first leftist president. The last president in Colombia, Ivan Duque, did not recognise Maduro as president, but rather opposition leader Juan Guaido. The US also recognises Guaido as Venezuela's "interim president". READ MORE: Colombia announces border with Venezuela to 'open soon' Source: AFP

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Venezuela demands Argentina to return detained plane

BOGOTA, Colombia 

An official delegation from Venezuela protested Thursday outside Argentina's embassy in Caracas against the impounding of a plane and its crew in Buenos Aires since June.

Venezuelan Minister of Transport Ramon Velasquez and lawmakers gathered outside the embassy, demanding Argentina to "return the plane and crew!"

The plane was detained in Argentina’s capital on June 8 by order of a judge, who opened an investigation against the crew, consisting of 14 Venezuelans and five Iranians, for "espionage and terrorism.”

The Boeing 747 entered Argentina on June 6 with a cargo of auto parts from Mexico. Unable to refuel in Argentina due to US sanctions, it departed for Montevideo, but Uruguayan authorities denied it access and it flew back to Buenos Aires, where it was ordered by a judge to be detained.

The US Department of Justice on Aug. 2 asked Argentina for permission to confiscate the Iranian plane sold to Venezuelan owners, arguing that it was linked to international terrorist groups, the agency said in a statement.

On July 19, a US court in the District of Columbia issued an order to seize the plane on the grounds that there was an "unauthorized transfer" of the plane from Mahan Air, an Iranian airline affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, which Washington says is a “designated terrorist organization,” to EMTRASUR, a Venezuelan cargo airline and subsidiary of the Venezuelan state-owned company Conviasa, which is also under sanctions from the US Treasury.

On Thursday, the Argentine judge admitted a request from the US to seize the plane. The aircraft, which remains at Ezeiza International Airport outside Buenos Aires, was inspected Thursday by agents from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), according to local news.

The intervention of the US resulted in Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordering a team of "experts" to go to Argentina to fight the "battle for Venezuela.” He said the US was attempting to "steal" the plane and has questioned Argentina's justice system for "kneeling before" the US.

Anadolu Agency website contains only a portion of the news stories offered to subscribers in the AA News Broadcasting System (HAS), and in summarized form. Please contact us for subscription options.

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Venezuela, Colombia seek to mend ties with appointments of new envoys

Caracas and Bogota both name new ambassadors to each other's capitals, a first step in normalising diplomatic relations after recent inauguration of Colombian President Gustavo Petro.

Caracas and Bogota also announced intentions to restore military relations. (Reuters Archive)

Venezuela and Colombia have appointed ambassadors to each other's capitals, moving to rebuild relations between the two countries that have been broken for more than three years.

Thursday's appointments come days after the inauguration of Colombia's first leftist president, Gustavo Petro, who has expressed his intention to normalise diplomatic relations with Venezuela.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro appointed Felix Plasencia, a former foreign minister, as ambassador to Bogota, calling him "a man of great diplomatic experience". 

Petro named Armando Benedetti, a former senator, as Colombia's ambassador to Caracas.

"In response to the Venezuelan government, I have appointed an ambassador who will (also) be tasked with normalizing diplomatic relations between the two countries," Petro said in a video. 

Maduro added that Vice President Delcy Rodriguez will be in charge of designing a plan to reopen Venezuela's border with Colombia and boost trade and investment with its neighbour.

Resumptions of military relations

The two countries share more than 2,500 kilometers of the border.

Caracas and Bogota also announced intentions to restore military relations.

"We will continue step by step and at a safe pace to advance toward the restoration and reconstruction of political, diplomatic and commercial relations," Maduro said on state television.

Caracas broke off relations with Bogota in early 2019 after members of the Venezuelan opposition tried to cross from Colombian territory with trucks loaded with food and medicine.

Maduro's government said the aid masked an attempted coup by the opposition with support from Washington.

Source: TRTWorld and agencies

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Venezuela, Colombia agree to reestablish diplomatic relations

Fast News

Colombia was one of around 60 countries to reject Venezuela’s 2018 presidential election, which was boycotted by the opposition.

[File] Embassies and consulates in both countries were closed, and flights between the neighbors grounded. (Reuters)

Venezuela and Colombia will reestablish diplomatic relations at an ambassadorial level when leftist president-elect Gustavo Petro takes office in Bogota on August 7, representatives of the South American neighbors said.

Relations between the two countries were broken in 2019 after Colombian President Ivan Duque refused to recognise the reelection of his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro.

Duque instead backed the claim of opposition leader Juan Guaido to be Venezuela's acting president.

Colombia was one of around 60 countries to do so, having rejected Venezuela's 2018 presidential election that was boycotted by the opposition.

Venezuela's minister of foreign relations Carlos Faria hosted Colombia's foreign minister-elect Alvaro Leyva in San Cristobal on Thursday, the capital of Tachira state on the border between the two countries.

Leyva read out a statement saying that both men had "expressed their desire to progress on a work agenda towards the gradual normalisation of bilateral relations from August 7 by naming ambassadors and diplomatic and consular officials."

Frayed relations

Gustavo Petro, Colombia's first ever elected left-wing president, had said on the campaign trail that he would reestablish diplomatic relations with Venezuela once in office.

Embassies and consulates in both countries were closed, and flights between the neighbors grounded.

Even the land border between the two countries was closed between 2019 and October 2021.

Maduro regularly accuses Duque of being part of supposed plans to topple him, while the conservative president claims his Venezuelan counterpart is harboring Colombian rebels that carry out attacks on his security forces.

On Thursday, Colombia's police force claimed a former guerrilla hiding in Venezuela had offered more than $1.5 million as a reward for the assassination of Duque.

Source: AFP

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